Rob portman

Sen. Rob Portman on Thursday ripped as "a fishing expedition" top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer's push for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's documents from the Bush administration ahead of his pending confirmation hearing. "A lot of them would be subject to executive privilege," the Ohio Republican told Kate Bolduan on CNN. "It's a fishing expedition. "Yes, if it's a document that he authored or a document that he was involved with as associate counsel, certainly, or certainly as a judge, that's totally appropriate. "More documents are being offered than at any time in history," he said. Schumer, the senate minority leader from New York, has repeatedly attacked Republicans for not releasing more documents from Kavanaugh's tenure as White House staff secretary to President George W. Bush. "What are they hiding?" Schumer asked in a tweet posted Wednesday: What is @SenateGOP trying to hide in Kavanaugh's record? To go to such lengths to deny simple documents really makes people … [Read more...] about Rob Portman Bashes Schumer on Kavanaugh ‘Fishing Expedition’

It's "appropriate" for President Donald Trump and other administration officials to have conversations with Russia, but adequate preparations must be made for those discussions, Sen. Rob Portman said Sunday. "The president chose to postpone the potential meeting here in the United States that he had talked about," the Ohio Republican told NBC "Meet the Press" anchor Chuck Todd, referring to plans for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with Trump at the White House. "That's appropriate, because I assume we were not going to be prepared to have those discussions." Portman said he had been concerned about Trump's public statements after his closed-door meeting with Putin in Helsinki "not being consistent and clear with our policies." At the same time, Trump's policies with Russia are "a lot tougher than previously," and they are "probably not making the Russians very happy," said Portman. Meanwhile, Russia and the United States are two major superpowers, and "we have a lot of … [Read more...] about Sen. Portman: ‘Appropriate’ for Trump, Administration to Talk With Russia

Share Tweet Share Email Comments Print Sen. Rob Portman AP Enlarge U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) affirmed his support for President Trump’s Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh in an op-ed this week that describes their one-on-one meeting earlier this month, 15 years after the two first met working under former President George W. Bush. “He is compassionate and humble — and someone who has a big heart and the humility to be able to listen. I saw this on display when Judge Kavanaugh came to my office in Washington, D.C. to discuss his qualifications and his record, something he will continue doing with senators throughout his nomination process,” Mr. Portman wrote. The meeting took place July 11, two days after the president named D.C. Circuit Judge Kavanaugh his nominee to replace retiring jurist Anthony Kennedy. Mr. Portman has touted his “longtime friendship” with Judge Kavanaugh in pushing for his confirmation. Judge … [Read more...] about Portman affirms support of Trump Supreme Court nominee

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said Thursday that future agreements with Iran and North Korea should be more transparent following a report on the Obama Administration’s deal with Iran. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, which Portman chairs, wrote in a draft report released Wednesday that the Obama administration "issued a license to Bank Muscat to authorize the conversion of Iran’s rials to euros through ‘any United States depository institution …,'" as part of the nuclear deal with Iran. "Even after the specific license was issued, U.S. government officials maintained in congressional testimony that Iran would not be granted access to the U.S. financial system." Portman said in an interview with CNN on Thursday that "in the future, whether it is another agreement [with Iran] ... [or] whether it is an agreement with North Korea, which I hope we will end up with at some point… we need to be sure that Congress and the American people … [Read more...] about Sen. Portman Calls for Transparency in Agreements with Iran, NKorea

The private sector has a powerful incentive to treat opioid addiction in this country — the dearth of able-bodied workers willing to fill the many jobs that have been created, Sen. Rob Portman wrote in a column for The Washington Post. The Ohio Republican writes that in his state, "employers increasingly tell me that their biggest challenge is finding workers." Addiction has sidelined "working-age Americans who are outside the economy, not working or even looking for work," Portman writes, adding that if those Americans were included in the unemployment rate, it "wouldn't be 3.9 percent — it would be a disappointing 8.6 percent." "Most businesses recognize the difficulty of finding workers who can pass a drug test, but the workforce impact is far deeper because millions of Americans who are out of work aren't even showing up to take the drug test in the first place," Portman writes. "Addiction takes over lives, strips affected Americans of their ambition and tears at … [Read more...] about Sen. Portman: Opioid Addiction ‘Undermining’ US Economy